can diatoms rear its head in a 10 month old tank this bad

[ORION411]

I have this brown film that is covering my 65g salt water tank it's got to the point that it has affected certain corals so I cleaned them up and moved them to my smaller tank now their fine can someone help plz

[Saltwaterfishgirl]

Brown jelly

[Leighton79]

It's nothing of the sort, brown jelly isn't a film algae, it's an infection that LPS are prone to contracting.

[ORION411]

Thank you very much for the id now if u will what can I do to be rid of the stuff it's quite the pain I'm pretty much a noob at this been at it a year but love it

[ORION411]

In my 65g salt water reef tank I've had a outbreak of what appears to be diatoms from what I've read in here in several instances, it is a film that is covering everything and when I use my mag cleaner it just wipes away looks almost like a brown smoke in the water and I do not know exactly what it is or how to deal with it I'm really new to the salt water hobby and enjoy it very much and could use all the advice I can get thank u all in advance

[Reeffanman]

Originally Posted by ORION411

Thank you very much for the id now if u will what can I do to be rid of the stuff it's quite the pain I'm pretty much a noob at this been at it a year but love it

Just like most other algae. Do not overfeed, keep your lights on a schedule, and pwc

[joy13]

How old is your lights, with age the spectrum changes so that could be part of the cause. What is your phosphates, nitrates and magnesium, if the first two are high then you have excess nutrients and low magnesium can cause problems with algae. Are you using ro water? I find several smaller water changes during the week is better for my tanks than one large one.

[Reeffanman]

Do you use rodi. Dose anything? May have an excess of nutrients how much do u feed what is your light schedule?

[ORION411]

Well so far I've fed the fish and coral every other day and my lights are on timers 8 on 16 off, I do my water changes with ro and red sea coral pro salt yet it seems to be taking over

[ORION411]

My lights are all less then 10 months 1 mh 250 4 t5ho, the phosphate and nitrate r not detectable and magnesium I don't have test for but I pay a couple dollars to my lfs every other week to do a full test on everything and I'm told everything is in line, they even show me the test and how to read them so I believe they are trust worthy they have yet to steer me wrong

[ccCapt]

Diatoms are cause by excessive silicates in the water. If you are using tap water it could come from that, if you use RO/DI water it might be time to change the DI resin or RO membrane. If you used a silica based sand (playsand) it may be coming from there.

[ORION411]

Ro water yes dose no cause I do regular water changes with red sea pro coral mix which keeps it all in check and lights 8 hours on all lights on timers

[ORION411]

The sand was live sand I have about 70ish pounds in it. Now these are new terms to my noob vocab lol what do u mean Di resin and ro membrane?

[Reeffanman]

With a rodi unit to keep it producing top notch quality water you must change filters and resin periodically. If you don't you may not be getting pristine water and some nutrients may make it through.

[ORION411]

OK so u mean an actual rodi water purification system to use on my tap water for top off and or water changes correct? If so I've used ro water I buy from my lfs and never used regular tap water

[ccCapt]

For a little over $100 you can get your own RO/DI unit and be sure of the water quality. Your LFS may not even be using DI resins on the RO unit and if they do and sell alot of water they would need to change it out quite often. IMO, the peace of mind in knowing you are using the best water you can is worth the cost of buying your own unit.

[ORION411]

I've never looked into purchasing one do u have any suggestions where to look for one of decent quality and ease to hook up

[ccCapt]

I have this unit and have it under my sink so it also supplies drinking water that is only RO filtered and it has a seperate output that filters the water with the RO and DI and I use that for my tank.
Filter Direct Online Store (C)

This unit doesn't have the seperate storage tank and has a double DI cartridge.
Filter Direct Online Store (C)

[ORION411]

Originally Posted by ccCapt

I have this unit and have it under my sink so it also supplies drinking water that is only RO filtered and it has a seperate output that filters the water with the RO and DI and I use that for my tank.
Filter Direct Online Store (C)

This unit doesn't have the seperate storage tank and has a double DI cartridge.
Filter Direct Online Store (C)

OK that's pretty neat I c it can come with a water hose adapter, I don't think I need it for the actual drinking water as I live on a 1200 acre farm and have great well water but could get the hose adapter use it as needed every week for top offs and pwc's is that correct? Sorry for bugging ya

[ccCapt]

Yep, the 2nd 1 is fine for using on your tank and hooking it up with the hose adapter.